Hard Drive Crashes

Back in the early '80's, the Lone Star state opted to create for its citizens, an experiment using teenagers. They devised the "Hardship License." The term "hardship" meant any teen going to high school where the parents agreed to let the youth learn to drive. I was one of those test drivers of this policy, and am probably the reason why airbags were invented, not to mention the experiment, dismissed. It may have been because I was a dreamy teenager, it may have been because on occasion (not always, not as often as one might imagine), I wore my toe shoes or Jazz shoes so as to cut down on the time needed to get to dance class ready. 

But it doesn't matter why I was a bad driver; the reality is that poor little Dodge Dasher never stood a chance. Within three years, I'd hit rear ended a vehicle, (I sneezed, hit the gas and when whamo), sideswiped a motor cycle after getting lost in the rain, and floated my car down a street. The judgment and driving skills of this one's teen brain were poor.

Once I turned 18, apparently my brain, my judgement and my driving skills matured sufficiently that this stopped being a constant threat. Maybe the fact I quit dancing classes at that point had a part in it as well. Still, within me lay the capacity for casual distracted destruction. It merely channeled it's power toward a different machine.

When I turned 41, my husband bought me a laptop, not realizing that hard drives and crashes were part of my nature. The first computer survived three years with me before succumbing to the injuries of a virus. The computer sneezed, and stopped going rather like my first car. The second computer, not as strong, got lost at the tender age of two when I took it with me out into the world and it slid from my bag in the car after a hard stop to avoid a motorcycle that cut in front of me. Better the computer than the biker but still.

All that remained was to have the third machine float down the street. This past week, I'd put the computer on my night stand because I wanted it out of the main room so the kids wouldn't damage it after I'd finished working. I plugged it in so it could recharge. I turned to walk away but my left shoelace was untied. Somehow the lace looped around the cord of the charger so when I took a step, it pulled the cord with my foot and down down down, the two and a half feet to the ground it went, landing first on a corner before my hands could cushion it's final descent to the floor. I muffed the potential save, and the Geek Squad pronounced it DOA.

I'm thinking the government needs to do something to protect the computers and the public from threats like me, perhaps create airbags for laptops or require a licensing agreement test before letting people walk about with machines that fry on contact with anything harder than a cushion. Make us go through a "your computer and you" sort of course before letting us or at least me, on the internet. Training wheels might be nice too.

Picking up the external hard drive of my former computer, I noticed my shoelaces were again untied and now vow to at the very least, be preventative toward whatever other pieces of technology I ever own. My next pair of shoes will be velcro strap.

7 Quick Takes

1. This morning, the wheels came off the bus, and not one of my children made it anywhere on time.  But the day and the mood was saved, by the premature advent (forgive the pun) of 24-7 Christmas carols on the radio,which soothed the psyches of 7 of the 8 people bothered by the passage of time.   "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year..."  They sang it and meant it and you know what, so did I.

2. There is something about two year olds that can only be explained thusly: she has a lollipop in each hand. Neither is unwrapped.  She is dancing on her tippy-toes. "They're mine. They're mine! They're Mine!" she sings.   All is right with the world.  

3. My kids know Saint Anthony and I have a connection. Part of what made us late this morning was the inability of one child to find her folder.  She was fast becoming unglued by this reality despite my reassurances the teacher would understand.  She said a prayer aloud asking my favorite go to saint for help. I added my own and I promise you the instant we finished, we found the folder.  We'd searched all the rooms more than once but here it was.  She gave a big smile and thank you to the Saint, and I sat there feeling like sometimes, these little trials are to teach the bigger people (like me) not to be such a snob with prayer, not to save it only for special occasions or big stuff.  This was big stuff to her, and thus to me, but the prayers were for little things.  

4.  30 Day Novel Writing

I'm in an online course learning all the mistakes I made as part of the writing process of The Book of Helen, hoping not to make them with The Book of Penelope.  Thus far, I've sold 35 books on Amazon that I know of, (installed the counter a week late).  I don't know how she did on Barnes and Noble or Apple or Museitup.  I do know, I'm applying to be a speaker at the Gaithersburg Book Festival and trying to hold onto that "You wrote a book" feeling, which so many authors talk about fading fast when the sales aren't reaffirming of the reality.  Writing a story isn't so much an ego trip as it is an ego offering, and it's hard to not feel it personally when a review reveals all the flaws, because human nature is we want the equivalent of an "A" in this experience.

5.  Day 9 No Laptop.

You have to worry when it takes Geek Squad more than a week to assess.  I miss my computer.

6.    Favorite moment this week so far...there are three.

1) My two year old and 5 year old sitting on my lap for story time and announcing it as such.
2) My teen saying "I love you." through a closed door when I went upstairs to turn off lights.
3) My daughter coming to announce, she's finished her college application common ap.  

7) Twenty years into parenting, I finally have come to know, that the only thing that separates this vocation from being a thankless joyless job, is love.  Parenting, being in a family is much more a willful act than I ever knew.  Getting down on the floor to play instead of turning on the tv? A willful act.  Giving a bath rather than just trussing them up for bed? A willful act.  Preparing a meal rather than ordering pizza?  A willful act.  None of the opposites I listed are innately evil, but they can become a reflexive response rather than a treat that isn't an escape from the tasks we've been called by God to do, namely to love these people unconditionally, and teach them the means by which they can do the same to others, all while giving instruction on how to survive the needs and cares of this world and make it less sharp around the edges.   As such, I now wish all of you a good weekend, I have to go fix lunch.